Latest in Opinion Highlight
Latest in Opinion
Amidst the chaos, a really bad NGO law is about to be enacted
By Robert Becker In a year that has been dominated so far by gruesome images of police brutality, horrific gang rape, curfew-busting protests, controversial court decisions, and ineffectual leadership by all Egyptian political forces, it is easy to understand how this 31 January headline caught no one’s attention: Final draft of NGO law sent to Cabinet …
Can Egypt have a foreign policy?
By Hussein Ibish In the context of ongoing political unrest, is it possible for Egypt to have a functional foreign policy? Probably not. And as long as this is the case, that has profound implications for others in the region, particularly the Palestinians and Syria. Egypt does have a functional national security policy, largely because …
Rebel Economy Wrap
Breather rather than a new equilibrium
Egypt is not Somalia (it isn’t Switzerland, either)
The last two weeks were not a huge surprise. For some, it seems that the last couple of weeks were the result of a strategy by forces opposed to the presidency of Mohamed Morsi—that the violence was planned, arranged, and implemented. There is a corresponding logic to that line of thought—that had the violence not …
Six pieces, looking for an author
Far from violence, clashes and clouds of tear gas, from press releases and accusations, we are called to escape the chaos of our country and pick up the scattered pieces that once formed a picture of Egypt. This picture, as it currently exists under the Muslim Brotherhood, is in the process of being created, but …
Review: Commentaries debate opposition, violence and corruption
Writers across Egyptian newspapers have explored an assortment of topics. Some of them dissected the deteriorating level of human rights in Egypt, especially after the recent clip of torture showing a man being beaten and dragged across the ground by Central Security Forces (CSF). Other writers condemned the opposition and their failing attempts to establish …
Calm the public?
Every day we look for victims, their families, and their lawyers
The cautionary tale of NSFMommy and MBDaddy
Good morning Children, Today we are going to tell the story of the unfortunately very Egyptian marriage of NSFMommy and MBDaddy. Like most Egyptian marriage stories, it’s a very stupid family drama where there are no heroes and even the victim looks bad in the end. We are not sure if there is a moral …
Review: Op-Eds chide authority for using violence
After the recent video clip showing an Egyptian man being beaten and dragged by security forces, several commentaries have exposed the issue of human rights violations in Egypt. Many writers pointed fingers at the executive authority, blaming it for the widespread violence. Several columnists believe that the authorities should end the practice of violence to …
Demeaning enough?
They kept repeating the clip in front of me for more than five subsequent times. I starred at the pixelated screen. But it was still okay. The viciousness was clear enough for me. I could see the legs kicking him in the back, sticks hammering him on his head, hands dragging him from his legs …
Egypt: A twilight without a new dawn
By Nervana Mahmoud Egypt has always been portrayed in folk history as a woman with eternal youth, defiant and graceful. But the state that has been proud of its iconic past is currently crumbling at a surprisingly fast pace, and no one seems to be able to stop it. The chaotic scenes witnessed in Egypt …
Rebel Economy Wrap
Egypt scales back energy subsidy reforms
The Police: Back to square one
Once again we go back to the very basics, to where it all began. What the police did last night around the presidential palace was nothing but a simple reminder of how things are just the same. Those who fell victim to the illusion of change should now wake up and see things for what …
Egypt: Banks attracting Gulf investors
By Robert Tashima Despite an uncertain political climate and a sluggish economic recovery, the long-term prospects of Egyptian banks are attracting attention from their Gulf counterparts. Two recently announced acquisitions have brought the sector back into the headlines on a positive note, helping offset a recent ratings downgrade. While the transactions also represent the …
Review: Columnists debate Morsy’s poor performance
Several columnists have denounced Morsy’s recent visit to Germany as an example of his failure to consider the deteriorating political situation in Egypt, criticising his decision to visit Berlin amid the political uproar. Some highlight that many Egyptians regret their choice of Morsy as president. The failing trip to Germany Mohamed Salmawi Al-Masry Al-Youm …
Tahrir’s Tattered Trophy
By Philip Whitfield How long would it take you to vent your spleen? Me? An hour a column if I’m not distracted. This one’s been stewing, nay boiling, for months. The headline should have been The Rape of Egypt, but I toned it down not to offend the squeamish. If you don’t care to read …
Egypt’s days of despair
Adel Heine’s weekly column
Editor’s letter: Time for the cool sheikhs
In 2010 I was invited to a lecture by Amr Khaled, organised by Regents College in London, while I was there for some media mission. The lecture was considered very important, as it was to discuss coexistence in Islam, in a city that has one of the most visible Muslim minorities in Europe. For those …
Egypt’s opposition: The sultan’s slackers
By Karl Sharro There is an old Egyptian joke about Tanabel El-Sultan, (the Sultan’s slackers), who were notorious for their laziness. The sultan was so fed up with seeing the slackers lazing about that one day he ordered their execution. The slackers were loaded onto a wagon and driven off to be killed. Fortunately for …
Review: Commentaries denounce Morsy’s call for dialogue
After President Mohamed Morsy met with a number of politicians in a new round of dialogue talks, several opinion writers have denounced the move, believing it is another failed attempt at fruitless dialogue. Replacing the cabinet is the first solution Diaa Rashwan Al-Masry Al-Youm Rashwan believes that the only way out of this crisis …
Why should the young man move?
In the early days of the revolution, and since then over the last two years, my gaze has often been focused on the young Egyptian who has repeatedly climbed the lamp-posts of Tahrir Square in order to wave a flag in front of the masses. Because I have bad vision, whenever I go to the …
Morsy opts for law enforcement, not inevitable reform
The Ultras’ battle is a battle for karama, or dignity
Review: Op-Ed pages denounce Morsy and his speech
After President Mohamed Morsy’s speech declaring a state of emergency in three Canal cities on Sunday, many writers have criticized his performance amid the current crisis. Alaa Al-Aswany Why does Morsy kill Egyptians? Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper Morsy cannot claim that all those who demand his departure are only remnants of the old regime, Al-Aswany states. …
Conjuring the demon
Morsy, you are now face to face with those who have lost everything, including their hope for a better future and their faith in you
Blockheads
The genius of turning the Black Bloc into the new enemy is how perfect they are for it
Review: Columnists criticise presidency and violence
Opinion writers have condemned the presidency for its passive reaction towards the violence that continues to take place in many Egyptian cities. Although President Mohamed Morsy has called for dialogue with a number of political figures after addressing the nation in a televised speech on Sunday evening, more than one writer has placed the full …
Mali: a serving of ‘Freedom Fries’
French intervention in Mali is motivated by economic rather than democratic concerns In 2003, the Bush administration justified the invasion of Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein had ties with Al-Qaeda and possessed weapons of mass destruction. Bush named the invasion ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’, claiming that he wanted democracy for Iraq. The French administration …
Review: Unprecedented violence dominates columns
As Egyptians commemorated the second anniversary of the January 25 Revolution on Friday, violence erupted as protestors and security forces clashed. And on Saturday, more violence erupted after 21 defendants were sentenced to death in the Port Said football massacre case. Since then, newspaper columns have been filled with reports of the latest death toll, …
Rebel Economy Wrap
Port Said: Egypt’s Statue of Liberty By Farah Halime, Rebel Economy After yesterday’s deadly clashes with as many as 30 killed, it’s hard to imagine how the Port Said of today was once the object of a sculptor’s fascination. In the 1850s, French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi planned to build what is now known as the Statue of …
The Ultras, the trial and violence
It is premature to think that justice has been served for those who died.